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A loud car horn honks behind you! You look up and see the green light as you begin to push down on the accelerator. You think to yourself, “where was I just now?” Your mind races through the day’s events…work, traffic, bosses, deadlines, house, money, bills, kids, life! Ahhh !!! STRESS!
Today our lives are filled with all different levels of stress. Don’t think that all stress is bad, because it isn’t, (when managed). But we must not let it take us over. We need to find time for ourselves, to unwind, relax and just lose ourselves within our own thoughts.
An excellent way I found of doing this is to create. Art has proven to be an outstanding way to manage my troubles and stresses. I know that once I pick up a brush and start painting on that canvas, time has no hold on me; hour’s melt away feeling only like minutes. For the time that I am behind that easel, my mind is free; my thoughts are focused on the next brush stroke, I get absorbed into my landscape painting and I know in that instant, I am truly living in the moment. The canvas, paints, and brushes are all tools that magically blanket me with a calming and relaxing feeling.
I think that many of us have this connection, maybe not with creating art but with the beauty of nature. Taking a huge breathe of crisp air while on a walk outside, hiking through the woods while the wind dances through the leaves, plunging that paddle into the cold water pushing the canoe forward or simply watching a colourful bird fly down from a sunset sky to enjoy the backyard feeder. We as humans find peace in nature.
I believe that is what I enjoy the most about landscape paintings; peace. Landscape art allows your mind to enter the canvas and roam free. It allows your inner feelings to walk, hike, paddle, or fly through its beauty, bringing you to a place of relaxation, harmony and inner calmness.
So the next time you feel the weight of being over-whelmed, take the time to find a painting you love, truly look at it, and then give your mind the permission to step into its world to explore, even if it’s only for a moment. Trust me, you will definitely thank yourself.
